Humans nearly went extinct 930,000 years ago, researchers find The Brighter Side
Copper drug restores memory and clears toxic Alzheimer’s proteins Monash University. Paul R:
The study, published today in the journal ACS Chemical Neuroscience, shows the compound Cu(ATSM) repairs a vital waste-clearing pump at the blood-brain barrier – unlocking a potential new avenue of therapeutics targeting neurovascular dysfunction, caused by one of the world’s leading causes of death.
#COVID-19/Pandemics
What COVID is teaching doctors about the relationship between viruses and cancer Los Angeles Times
Ebola
Congo reports large daily jump in Ebola cases a month after outbreak was declared Associated Press
Climate/Environment
Pilot whales can’t hear each other over ship noise in Strait of Gibraltar, study find Mongabay
7 out of 10 models now predict a record-breaking El Niño this year.
El Niño’s exact intensity will influence the magnitude of the global temperature spike and water vapor levels in 2026-27, both key indicators of the potential for weather extremes. Fractions of a degree matter. pic.twitter.com/EjjX8keIfX
— Ben Noll (@BenNollWeather) June 11, 2026
NASA spots giant ocean swell that could signal El Niño’s return Science Daily (Kevin W)
Super El Niño’ will have an alarming financial impact, experts fear USA Today
The insurance market prepared for extreme weather. It may not be prepared for climate whiplash Insurance Business
Extreme Weather Is Becoming A Workforce Crisis Forbes
* * * Earth’s permafrost could soon release hidden ‘deep carbon,’ supercharging warming Scientific AmericanScientists concerned as Himalayas show signs of climate breakdown New Indian Express
Water
Central Asia’s Dry Fuse: Preventing The Next Water War? Caspian Post
Balochistan seeks release of allocated water from Sindh The Nation
Arizona faces 77% cut in Colorado River water amid stalled talks Phoenix New Times
Hoover Dam Approaches a Hydropower Cliff Inside Climate News. I dimly recall that Uruguay, which generates pretty much all of its electricity from hydropower, faced similar issues in a recent dry year.
China?
China retail sales fall for first time since COVID lockdowns Nikkei
US-Iran peace deal rattles China’s energy strategy, geopolitics Asia Times (Kevin W)
Do China’s export curbs on tungsten threaten Japan’s AI chip supply chain? South China Morning Post
Japan
Bank of Japan raises interest rates to 31-year high Reuters
Japan to send delegation to Greenland to evaluate rare earth extraction Nikkei
BOJ Set to Hike Rates to Highest Since 1995 Despite Ueda Absence Bloomberg
Koreas
Korea’s Permanent Jobs Shrink First Time Since Asian Financial Crisis, Hitting Youth Seoul Economic Daily
India
Extreme Heat Is Already Stifling Economic Growth in India Bloomberg
Africa
The Recognition Network: Emerging Pro-Israel Efforts to Redraw South Africa and Zimbabwe in Response to Their Support for Palestine Global Geopolitics
Sudanese army says dozens of RSF fighters killed in attacks across Sudan Anadolu Agency
Children surviving on leaves and water lilies as conflict drives parts of South Sudan to the brink of famine Horn Observer
Sahel juntas are ‘crushing’ basic freedoms DW
South African Firms Face Pressure Due to Anti-Immigrant Protests Bloomberg
How climate change is threatening Kenya’s food basket as hunger crisis deepens – study People Daily
South of the Border
Venezuelans sour on Donald Trump Financial Times (resilc)
A Miami-to-Havana Lifeline Is Slowing Cuba’s Slide Into Economic Collapse Tovimo
Living in fear of a knock at the door: the Cubans being deported under Trump Guardian
European Disunion
US clampdown on Anthropic models sends EU sovereignty surge into overdrive The Register
Europe faces a hidden heatwave risk that could shatter records Earth
Italy’s Far-Right Group Becomes Party in Fresh Threat to Meloni Bloomberg
German vines flower early in warm regions, pushing some harvests toward August Vinetur
Old Blighty
The UK Joins The Pirates Craig Murray (guurst). Important.
Russia was behind arson attacks targeting PM, BBC reveals BBC Lordie
Record number of young people fear long-term unemployment Guardian
Bird flu, extreme heat and super gonorrhoea: The top health threats facing Britain Telegraph
Far-right and anti-racist protesters clash in UK cities after Belfast riots Guardian
Israel v. The Resistance
Israel Threatens to Blow Up Trump’s Peace Deal With Iran New Republic (resilc)
Despite Iran Deal, Israel Continues Attacking Lebanon and Gaza Sam Husseini
Israel expands military control in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria by 1,000sq km Aljazeera
As Iraq tries to rein in paramilitary groups, oil sector threats remain Iraq Oil Report
Debunking the October 7th rape hoax yet again Asa Winstanley
Israeli Security Minister Ben-Gvir cancels US trip after visa difficulties: Report Anadolu Agency. Ben-Gvir was trying to travel under diplomatic privilege for a personal trip.
New Not-So-Cold War
We’re ready to fight Russia tonight, vows head of German air force Telegraph
Trump is blowing his chance to make peace in Ukraine Responsible Statecraft (resilc)
Big Brother is Watching You Watch
Starmer’s Social Media Ban, the Reinvention of the Surveillance State Reclaim the Net
UK ministers lobby Trump to avert backlash against social media ban Guardian (Kevin W)
Imperial Collapse Watch
The world is spending more on defence than on peace. This is self-defeating National News
Only 1 in 4 F-35s is fully mission capable, GAO finds Military Times (Kevin W)
The Race for Hypersonic Missiles Wall Street Journal
Pentagon pushes low-cost missile strategy to expand arsenal Seeking Alpha. resilc: “The lowest cost DoD item is the $600 toilet seat, now $3,400.”
Protesters clash with police ahead of G7 summit in Geneva BBC
Trump 2.0
MAJOR BREAKING: In a now deleted post by former MMA fighter Daniel Cormier, he posted screenshots of Eric Trump trying to get an insider scoop on whether any of the MMA fights at the White House are rigged so that he could try and illegally make money off of them..
Below is the… pic.twitter.com/lj28ipXv8Y
— Brian Krassenstein (@krassenstein) June 14, 2026
Inside the White House Freakout Over the Epstein Files New York Times (Chuck L)
Gavin Newsom says Trump’s DOJ is investigating him and his wife Politico (Kevin W)
FBI Raid on Ohio Voting Rights Group Is Profoundly Disturbing MomsRising
the five-second epistemology of thank @EricTrump for exposing @ufc as the united fraud collective.
daniel cormier posted eric’s dms asking if the lopes fight was rigged, then deleted them in panic. the receipt is permanent. eric wasn’t asking as a fan. he was asking as the son… https://t.co/2M995puSlg pic.twitter.com/jT1x8zakzm
— Donald J. Gorbachev (@donaldgorbachev) June 15, 2026
Tulsi’s US-Funded Ukrainian Biolabs Disclosure Is Incredibly Important To The National Debate Andrew Korybko
Economy
As of Monday morning, the average price of a gallon of gas in the US was $4.06, down from over $4.50 at the peak of the US-Iran war. https://t.co/T8lpvoPVpC
— Business Insider (@BusinessInsider) June 15, 2026
Strait of Hormuz still eerily quiet as doubts remain over ‘fragile’ peace deal South China Morning Post
Hormuz Trade Will Take Months to Return Normal, Analysts Say Bloomberg
Aussies queue from 1am for basic groceries as cost-of-living crisis deepens: ‘A lot busier’ Yahoo
Antitrust
Break up Big Meat Art Cullen (Chuck L)
AI
It Is Trivially Easy to Use Reddit to Manipulate AI Search 404 Media
Who Will Actually Thrive in the Hybrid A.I.-Human Work Force New York Times (fk)
Could AI rationing be the pin that pops the feared tech bubble? The Times
CRASH IMMINENT: Ed Zitron Says AI Valuations Are Complete FRAUDS YouTube
Has ANYONE Actually Seen AI Work? YouTube (resilc)
⚡️Satya is describing the new balance sheet of the firm.
The old firm owned people, processes, software, customer relationships, brand, data, and IP.
The new firm will own a compounding cognition loop.
Every workflow becomes a training surface. Every decision becomes a… https://t.co/0ptT1tl7TC
— SightBringer (@_The_Prophet__) June 14, 2026
The Bezzle
Tesla Accused of Inflating Self-Driving Safety Claims OilPrice
Guillotine Watch
Man who hates paying taxes loves government handouts Boing Boing (resilc)
Class Warfare
The Elite Mentality Black Box Site
Matchmakers Are Being Paid $25K to Find Trad Wives for Rich Men Wired (resilc)
Antidote du jour (John U):
A bonus:
I didn’t expect that.. 😅 pic.twitter.com/AXixeXuJnw
— Buitengebieden (@buitengebieden) June 13, 2026
A second bonus:
She thought her baby didn’t make it, until a tiny movement changed everything.. 🥺 pic.twitter.com/3fNJiAGyVz
— Buitengebieden (@buitengebieden) June 12, 2026
And a third:
Cat calculating physics.. 😅 pic.twitter.com/i7UbyU7UCf
— Buitengebieden (@buitengebieden) June 15, 2026
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here
California has quite a history of torrential winters resulting in widespread flooding, but we’re so biased towards only what we saw with our very own eyes, that the great floods of 212, 440, 603, 1029, c. 1300, 1418, 1605, and 1750 are unknown compared to the 1862 effort. The 1605 version was the most powerful of them all.
Notice how the floods typically happen every couple hundred or so years apart?
I wonder if those years correspond with El Ninos the likes of what coming our way?
Your comment had me picturing what happened when the first white settlers turned up in California. The locals may have pointed out all the low-lying flatlands standing near empty and recommending that those settlers locate themselves there.
Indeed, the various Yokuts tribes here pretty much all lived in the Sierra foothills, and much fewer on the floor of the valley where flooding happens~
Of course they only had 3,000 years to figure that one out~
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yokuts
“Sahel juntas are ‘crushing’ basic freedoms”
This DW article was good enough to mention that the Sahel countries faced the threat of terrorism and jihadist insurgents but failed to mention that these were supported by French, US and Ukrainian forces. So I will go out on a limb here and say that if the French, US and Ukrainian forces were withdrawn allowing the Sahel countries to mop up these jihadists in short order, that maybe those countries would be able to loosen up their security and restore more freedoms to their people.
For what its worth dept, jumping jack flash division.
Go-juice was $5.21 a gallon when I left on vacay, and it was the same price when I got back, but with a twist.
For whatever reason, the independent gas stations in Farmersville, Ca, are always about 40-50 ¢ cheaper, but not yesterday, as rival big name gas stations were about the same price.
I surmise that the Farmersville stations all of the sudden didn’t have access to the usual excess quantity of refined oil available on the market.
Alternate link for Craig Murray that avoids substack paywall. He has his own site where he posts everything I think. TBH I didn’t even know he had a substack, I just go to his site
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2026/06/the-uk-joins-the-pirates/
Correct link for copper drug restores memory story:
https://www.monash.edu/news/articles/copper-drug-restores-memory-and-clears-toxic-alzheimers-proteins
As Lambert would say, often in near context of Jackpot-related news,
“Science is Popping”
Further to the Starmer arson trial involving a couple of young Ukrainians, Starmer has now promised Zelensky enriched uranium for ‘nuclear power’, plus additional sanctions on Russia. Western politicians are adamant that Iran must never acquire nuclear weapons even though they deny any such wishes, while Zelensky has frequently expressed a desire for Ukraine to become nuclear armed. More hypocrisy, or fall out from what the Ukrainian arson trial and the actual connection between Starmer and any leverage this has given Zelensky? The desperate attempt by the BBC to deflect from this could be telling.
Thanks for the Art Cullen link.
Trump is blowing his chance to make peace in Ukraine Responsible Statecraft (resilc)
“If the Trump administration is serious about ending the conflict in Ukraine, it will need to reboot its approach.”
The old “If”…. how bout I speculate the implied answer to “IF” …
“the Trump administration is” NOT “serious about ending the conflict in Ukraine” it never has been and the previous admin also going back to incremental Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton has been hankering for a tussle….I mean, ever since wall-street and the kleptocrats got slowed down in their plunder of that neck of the woods.
Jeez…. If pigs fly
Yats was her guy. / ;)
Re: AI at work.
“The new firm will own a compounding cognition loop.
“Every workflow becomes a training surface. Every decision becomes a…”
AI at work… / ;)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfBG0d5Oj3c